LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Rabbit Hole Distillery's multi-million expansion could be on pause after a petition to save a building that is set to be demolished.
Rabbit Hole, which is majority-owned by French wine and spirits giant Pernod Ricard, has purchased a hodge-podge of buildings surrounding its distillery over the last two years and planned a campus spanning East Jefferson between South Clay and South Shelby streets. Rabbit Hole Spirits spent $10.6 million in June 2022 to purchase the rest of the block bounded by Jefferson, Clay and Shelby streets and Nanny Goat Strut, Jefferson County property records show.
All but two of the structures will be demolished, according to testimony in May at a meeting held by the Louisville Metro Planning Commission's land development and transportation committee.
Louisville resident Kevin Dohn preserves and restores older buildings like the vacant one near NuLu that is set to be torn down. Dohn wants to preserve the building.
"When I saw that this one was slated for demolition I just couldn't see it just drop," Dohn said.
A city wrecking ordinance gives 30 days to see if the 150-year-old building is considered historic. That gave Dohn a window to gather enough signatures to submit it to the city.
"I feel like this gives them something that they don't have in their current design, right now the current design kind of slopes down and disappears into that corner," Dohn said.
The designs by Rabbit Hole already include a landmarked building, which is located next to its current building. The landmarked building will be incorporated to the design, but the building on the end is set to be torn down.
"If the petition is valid then we have to go through a few more steps, there's some public hearings and that is when we get the Landmarks Commission involved to determine whether or not it is a landmark," said Savannah Darr, Louisville Metro's Historic Preservation Officer.
Dohn went around to get signatures in time for review.
"We've had 100% support when petitioning, it is an easy thing to get people to agree with," Dohn said.
But not everyone agrees with the petition. Katie Meinhart, NuLu Business Association President, said the pre-approved modern design is the way NuLu is heading and the structurally unsound building needs to go.
"What they are bringing to Louisville as a whole is amazing and they are keeping some of our really historically significant buildings even if they aren't as pretty as the ones that they have right now that that is going to hopefully be torn down," Meinhart said.
Rabbit Hole did not respond to requests for comment.
Dohn hopes he can meet with the company to find a way they can save the building.
"If the solution to keep it is more attractive than the solution to get rid of it, it has as great chance of staying so I am hoping that is where it goes," Dohn said.
Rabbit Hole isn't planning to produce more bourbon. Rather, the expansion is aimed at making it easier for semi-trucks to access the property for loading and unloading grain and distillate, reducing noise and eliminating truck idling on Jefferson Street. The expansion will allow the company to stop barreling distillate on site, instead trucking the liquid to its rickhouses in Henry County for barreling and storage.
The company plans tasting rooms, retail spaces and employee offices in hopes of making Louisville a waypoint for Pernod Ricard's U.S. operations.
Rabbit Hole began thinking about the expansion when the company learned that East Jefferson Street will eventually be converted to a two-way street, which would exacerbate the distillery's problems with managing truck traffic.
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